Central Iowa nonprofit to donate more than 120,000 pads, tampons through annual event

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Volunteers pose for a photo at a Period Packing Party. This year, the host organization, Give Grace Give Hope, hopes to make 6,000 packs. Submitted photo.

Five years ago, Melissa Knutson’s daughter, Brenlyn, wanted to give homeless women “pagina covers” for Christmas. Pagina covers, Knutson explained, were what Brenlyn called pads and tampons.

After donations poured in, Knutson, who also works as the senior vice president of insurance operations at NCMIC, reached out to Central Iowa nonprofits and schools to see if they could use them.

“Every single organization I called had a strong need for pads and tampons. It was a very underserved need in our community,” she said.

A box of 34 tampons averages $8, and a box of 24 pads typically costs about $5. One study found that women spend more than $13 on menstrual products every month – or close to $160 per year. That may not sound like a lot, but if you’re in a position of pinching pennies, period products aren’t often a priority.

“If someone can’t afford food, they can’t afford the $5 for a box of tampons or pads,” Knutson said.

Beyond affordability, access to menstrual products can be limited. Public restrooms often charge a quarter for a pad or tampon – or they’re out of stock entirely.

When people don’t have access to or can’t afford menstrual products, they often resort to homemade solutions – like a wadded up paper towel or a sock – that can lead to infection, or they miss school or work entirely.

“They miss out on day-to-day activities that keep them from being as awesome as they could be and getting into these leadership roles and doing all of these different things,” Knutson said.

After realizing the impact of not having access to menstrual supplies, Knutson and Brenlyn in 2018 created Give Grace Give Hope, a nonprofit that seeks to provide access to menstrual products for those in need.

The organization has delivered menstrual products to more than 15 organizations and schools in the last year, Knutson said, including the Boys and Girls Club, Beacon of Life, the Young Women’s Resource Center, Des Moines Refugee Support and Iowa Homeless Youth Shelters.

This year, on March 8, Give Grace Give Hope will host its third Period Packing Party initiative, an event where attendees form an assembly line and create boxes that contain seven tampons, seven pads, a soap item and a word of encouragement.

This year, Knutson hopes to create 6,000 packs. Each pack generally lasts a full menstrual cycle.

For those who want to get involved, Knutson encourages people to donate money to the cause, as the organization is able to make a dollar go further by receiving a discounted rate on products from the manufacturer.

Beyond fulfilling the need in the community, Knutson hopes to remove the stigma of talking about periods and help people think about menstrual products as a necessity.  

“My passion is to fill the gap, but I don’t want to fill the gap forever. I want us as a society to change and have pads and tampons provided at facilities … just as we provide toilet seat covers, toilet paper and paper towels. Let’s fill the need of everything that a menstruator would need in the restroom, and that includes pads and tampons.”

In recent years, a bill that requires menstrual products to be available at any building owned by the state government and a bill that would exempt menstrual products from a sales tax have appeared in the Iowa Legislature, but haven’t passed.

“It’s important for people to understand that this is an important initiative simply because … it does help keep kids in school and women in work and achieving their potential. That’s the big why here – we want to build leaders, and periods shouldn’t keep people from doing the things that they want to do,” Knutson said.